way back in the late 70s/early 80s, in the landlocked state of misery—excusi, meant to type the mighty, mighty missouri—our intrepid protagonist watched pbs television with her dad on sweltering summer saturdays afternoons. it was an amazing mash-up of topics where in an hour and a half you could learn to cook food from exotic lands, paint fantastic landscapes in oil paints, work in wood or renovate an old house. there was no other timeframe in the whole tv-scape at that time with such an eclectic line-up. yeh, way before cable, that's what i'm talking about here. here are a few of my favs:
Justin Wilson! Oh, ah gawruntee! even as a child, i understood justin was a great (most likely, dirty) old man. he cooked and consumed some sincerely homey cajun cuisine. he had a kitchen studio and a wife half his age. he told stories like my grandpa. as an adult, i make his potato salad. its like your standard american potato salad dressed with mayo and mustard, but justin makes it with onyun, chopped pimento-stuffed green olives and several liberal shakes of tabasco. ooooo-weeee!
Yan Can Cook! if yan can cook, so can you! thanks, martin yan. my parents bought a wok and experimented with stir frying straw mushroom (just like the dancing mushrooms in the disney movie, fantasia!) and tofu and canned baby corn. in missouri, that was a feat. my parents were very daring for the time/place/culture. yan could cut up a chicken in, like, seconds. you can see him now on foodtv, as a guest judge on iron chef america. now he's super hunky yan in a black leather jacket. the dude rocks.
This Old House. ok, you knew bob villa was a total diva. you couldn't wait for everyone to get tired of him and then they replaced him with that steve dude ( and you knew steve had never picked up a hammer in his life) and all the while, you secretly rooted for norm abrams (nice guy!) how happy were you when the
New Yankee Workshop came out? i typed that sentence? well, yeh. i watched it 'cause my dad really dug it. plus, you got to like a guy who started off his shows reminding you to always wear these (point to the corner of your face) safety glasses. oh, and the total slavish commitment to joining biscuits? the workshop was a drinking game, but i was in middle school so i missed out.
The Joy of Painting! William Alexander! Bob Ross! Paint amay-ya-ya-zing moutainous landscapes with all sorts of coniferous and deciduous (remember, mother of a ten year old) trees (HAPPY TREES!) William, an exuberant prussian, would fire-in his trees with alizarin crimson! Ross, weirdly quiet when he spoke/whispered, was for me, one of the last of the hippies (for which i was profoundly grateful, having experienced first hand the early 70s, which i refer to as the great american hang-over. shudder). they both created paintings using alla-prima oil painting techniques. everyone else (excluding my father) painted trash. and i think they still do at what now passes for an art store. ever noticed they just don't make art stores—now they are just a bunch of really poor craft stores?
Justin Wilson! Oh, ah gawruntee! even as a child, i understood justin was a great (most likely, dirty) old man. he cooked and consumed some sincerely homey cajun cuisine. he had a kitchen studio and a wife half his age. he told stories like my grandpa. as an adult, i make his potato salad. its like your standard american potato salad dressed with mayo and mustard, but justin makes it with onyun, chopped pimento-stuffed green olives and several liberal shakes of tabasco. ooooo-weeee!
Yan Can Cook! if yan can cook, so can you! thanks, martin yan. my parents bought a wok and experimented with stir frying straw mushroom (just like the dancing mushrooms in the disney movie, fantasia!) and tofu and canned baby corn. in missouri, that was a feat. my parents were very daring for the time/place/culture. yan could cut up a chicken in, like, seconds. you can see him now on foodtv, as a guest judge on iron chef america. now he's super hunky yan in a black leather jacket. the dude rocks.
This Old House. ok, you knew bob villa was a total diva. you couldn't wait for everyone to get tired of him and then they replaced him with that steve dude ( and you knew steve had never picked up a hammer in his life) and all the while, you secretly rooted for norm abrams (nice guy!) how happy were you when the New Yankee Workshop came out? i typed that sentence? well, yeh. i watched it 'cause my dad really dug it. plus, you got to like a guy who started off his shows reminding you to always wear these (point to the corner of your face) safety glasses. oh, and the total slavish commitment to joining biscuits? the workshop was a drinking game, but i was in middle school so i missed out.
The Joy of Painting! William Alexander! Bob Ross! Paint amay-ya-ya-zing moutainous landscapes with all sorts of coniferous and deciduous (remember, mother of a ten year old) trees (HAPPY TREES!) William, an exuberant prussian, would fire-in his trees with alizarin crimson! Ross, weirdly quiet when he spoke/whispered, was for me, one of the last of the hippies (for which i was profoundly grateful, having experienced first hand the early 70s, which i refer to as the great american hang-over. shudder). they both created paintings using alla-prima oil painting techniques. everyone else (excluding my father) painted trash. and i think they still do at what now passes for an art store. ever noticed they just don't make art stores—now they are just a bunch of really poor craft stores?
3 comments:
In those days, I was busy with Three's Company, Love Boat, Land of the Lost, Too Close for Comfort, just to name a few. Of course I was 5.
I guess I was watching Hee-Haw, Dukes of Hazard and the Beverly Hillbillies...and Petticoat Junction! Bob Ross Rocks!
andy, you were five watching an adult situational comedy? holy matrimony, where were your parents? sipping whiskey sours and mai tais?
that's my next blog: what my relative drank during family gatherings.
Post a Comment